If you're an indie retailer, you know the struggles we face - competition, costs, and playing field slanted against us. The goal of this blog is to slant the field a little bit back in our direction.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Uncover the Diamonds in Your Hiring Process By Eliminating the Biggest Hiring Mistake

You’ve hired and fired enough people to know what makes a good employee and what doesn’t. Yet, your track record of finding diamonds in the rough doesn’t seem to change. I know. I’ve been there. It took me years to learn this logical approach, but now I have a proven process that eliminates the biggest mistake in hiring and helps me find diamonds at every turn.

The biggest mistake we make in the hiring process is to look for experience instead of character traits.

There is a simple process for identifying the right raw ingredients for the job.

Make a Master List of all the traits of the perfect candidate.

Separate the Master List into two columns – Teachable and Non-Teachable traits.

Develop interview questions to identify the Non-Teachable traits.

If you are looking for a top notch salesperson, you need someone who is friendly, approachable, outgoing, honest, caring, and empathetic. Yet, what is the first thing you usually check? Sales Experience.

All the experience in the world will not make someone more caring, approachable, or empathetic. Years and years on the sales floor does not equate to honesty or friendliness. Experience cannot teach the non-teachable traits.

Just as the potter can’t make fine China with coarse clay, you can’t have a great employee if you don’t start with the right raw ingredients. Every job has certain skills or traits necessary for success. Many of these traits are teachable. Some are not.

Three simple logical steps. Follow them in your hiring process and your hiring will improve immediately. You will more quickly identify the people who already possess the innate skills needed to do the job. If they have all the Non-Teachable traits and Experience, all the better. But without the right traits first, they’ll never shine under pressure.

You need coal to make a diamond. You need certain non-teachable traits to make a diamond employee. Experience does not guarantee success. The candidate who possesses the non-teachable traits from your master list has the best chance to be successful for your business. And once you know this, you’ll be finding diamonds at every turn.

And as for those teachable traits in the other column? There is your training program, your chance to polish those diamonds to make them shine. Here’s a form to use for separating the traits for each job.

It’s simple, it’s easy, and the method is free for anyone to use. If you agree, send this to everyone you know who hires and fires.

If you don’t agree, leave a comment. I’d love to hear your take on the matter.